Xu Li trains in Southwest University, Chongqing, Dec 10, 2014. [Photo/IC]

You would think you'd want to eat a hearty meal before weight lifting because it requires so much energy. But in fact, the opposite is true. A coach said weight-lifters should fast before weightlifting, and that your weight, not what you eat, is what matters most, Chongqing Evening news reported.

Xu Li, a bronze medal winner at the Fourth International College Student Weightlifting Championships in Chiengmai, which took place from Dec 5 to Dec 8, nearly missed out on the game because she exceeded her weight category by 0.1 kilograms. "We brought a pair of scissors to cut her hair just in case," Li Jingwen, Xu's coach said.

Xu signed up for the women's 53kg class competition. No breakfast, two slices of beef and two shrimps for lunch, and a cup of yogurt or an apple for dinner, was what Xu ate every day for two weeks before the championship as she had to lose at least 8 kilograms. She even went for three to four hour saunas to sweat out the water in her body.

Luckily, Xu weighed in at 52.92kg just two hours before the game.

Yu Tao, the champion of the men's 62kg class competition at the Fourth International College Student Weightlifting Championships, trains in Southwest University, Chongqing, Dec 10, 2014. [Photo/IC]